Arizona strikes again: Now it is ethnic studies

First a new law was put on the books requiring police to question anyone who simply appears to be in the country illegally. It’s the most restrictive in the country.

Then there was news that the state Education Department had ordered school districts to remove from classrooms teachers who speak English with a very heavy accent or whose speech is ungrammatical. Of course nobody would want a teacher to stay in the classroom if students can’t understand them, but determining who that is can be tricky.

The move was apparently aimed at Spanish-speaking teachers who had been hired in the 1990s during the state’s era of bilingual education, which, incidentally, ended in 2000, according to the Wall Street Journal. Curious that it took 10 years for officials to realize that students, apparently, were having trouble with heavily accented teachers.

And there is this: State lawmakers have passed legislation that prohibits any classes that:

* Promote the overthrow of the United States government.
* Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.
* Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.
* Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.

More Comments:

Jonathan Dresner -
5/5/2010

The Arizona Law, at least the version I looked at, creates a new crime: a version of trespassing consisting of being on public or private lands without proper documentation to be in the country. The police can (and should, according to the law) use suspicion that this 'trespassing' law is being violated as 'probably cause' for a document search.

Bryan Mullinax -
5/5/2010

The Arizona law does not require police to question people who simply appear to be in the country illegally. It empowers the police to enforce the existing FEDERAL law. As in, you are not allowed to be in this country illegally. That's little Barry Oprompter's issue - the fact that he doesn't want to enforce the law, or have anybody else do it either doesn't change the facts.

Walter D. Kamphoefner -
5/5/2010

So like, any glorification of the Confederacy is now illegal? I mean, white supremacists trying to overthrow the United States. Sounds like a smoking gun to me.